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Pregnenolone

Pregnenolone is a natural hormone that plays a role in memory, humor, stress management and rheumatoid arthritis, and acts with other natural hormone supplements.

What is pregnenolone?

Pregnenolone is a hormone that the human body synthesizes from cholesterol. This takes place in the organism in the mitochondria, supported by specific enzymes. In the laboratory it is possible to synthesize pregnenolone from the saponin diosgenin of the wild yam plant (Igname). However, the human organism is not able to convert diosgenin into pregnenolone. As with other hormones, pregnenolone production decreases with age: the body of a 75-year-old produces 60% less pregnenolone than that of a 35-year-old.

What does pregnenolone do?

DHEA has often been referred to as the "mother hormone". It could therefore be said that pregnenolone is the "mother of DHEA" and the "grandmother" of the other steroid hormones. As soon as you take pregnenolone, the body transforms part of it into DHEA, which is then used to produce the sex hormones testosterone and oestrogen. Another part is converted into progesterone, cortisol and aldosterone. The part that is not converted has other specific functions.

What are the benefits of supplementing with pregnenolone?

In terms of memory, pregnenolone supplementation produces the most interesting results: the level of pregnenolone is most increased in the brain. Several studies show a significant improvement in learning ability and memory, as well as in the interplay of psychomotor and executive skills, with pregnenolone supplementation. A study in animals (Flood JF, Morley JE, Roberts E : Memory enhancing effects in male mice of Pregnenolone and steroids metabolically derived from it : Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 1992 ;89 :1567-1571) of the Veterans Medical Center of St Louis (Missouri) has shown : "Pregnenolone is the most effective substance for improving memory. Because of its regulating effect on the activity of adrenal secretion, and the pain-reducing effect associated with rheumatoid arthritis, pregnenolone is used to improve stress symptoms: several studies from 1950 have shown that an oral dose of 100 to 500 mg of pregnenolone per day is most effective. Finally, due to its specific place as a precursor of DHEA and progesterone, pregnenolone is increasingly being used to harmonize natural hormone replacement treatments, allowing the desired results to be achieved with the lowest possible dosage to enable multi-faceted supplementation.

What is the recommended dose and what are the side effects?

Oral supplementation normally requires a dose of 50 mg per day, preferably in the morning or at midday. Oral administration of quality supplements causes rapid absorption through the mucosa, allowing increased serum concentrations for more than 24 hours. Toxicological studies have shown that pregnenolone is very well tolerated, even at an increased dose, due to long-term therapy. Dr. Eugen Roberts (Beckman Research Institute de Duarte, California) is undoubtedly the best expert on pregnenolone: he has prescribed up to 500 mg per day for 3 months without any side effects. If you intend to use pregnenolone (or DHEA or melatonin) over a longer period of time, you should do a hormone saliva test once a year so that you can adjust your dosage to your functions efficiently.

Can I take DHEA and pregnenolone at the same time?

This is actually recommended. Even though pregnenolone is the biological precursor of DHEA, only a small proportion of the supplemental pregnenolone is actually converted into DHEA. The enzyme for converting pregnenolone is in fact only present in small quantities, and taking the precursors is only able to increase the DHEA level in the body to a very small extent. On the other hand, pregnenolone acts neuro-specifically and via the same metabolic pathways as progesterone/cortisol (hence the stress-reducing effect). The simultaneous application of DHEA and pregnenolone is therefore justified.

References

  1. Morfin R, Young J, Corpechot C, et al. Neurosteroids: pregnenolone in human sciatic nerves. Proc Natl Acad Sci 1992;89:6790-3.
  2. McGavack TH, Chevalley J, Weissberg J. The use of D 5-pregnenolone in various clinical disorders. J Clin Endocrinol 1951;11:559-77.
  3. Steiger A, Trachsel L, Guldner J, et al. Neurosteroid pregnenolone induces sleep-EEG changes in man compatible with inverse agonistic GABAA-receptor modulation. Brain Res 1993;615:267-74.
  4. Sternberg TH, LeVan P, Wright ET. The hydrating effects of pregnenolone acetate on the human skin. Curr Ther Res 1961;3:469-71.
  5. Isaacson RL, Varner JA, Baars JM, de Wied D. The effects of pregnenolone sulfate and ethylestrenol on retention of a passive avoidance task. Brain Res 1995;689:79-84.
  6. Maione S, Berrino L, Vitagliano S, et al. Pregnenolone sulfate increases the convulsant potency of N-methyl-D-aspartate in mice. Eur J Pharmacol 1992;219:477-9.